Explosive Magic
by Lady Shadowfire
Summary: New Title and Three New Chapters!!! Wahoo!! Harry Potter/X-men crossover. Sorry it took so long.
1. Default Chapter

Harry Potter/X-men crossover

Jubilee, after being kidnapped by Bastion, just after Everett dies. Jubilee and the rest of Gen X were going to spend the summer at the X-Mansion, while the Mass school was getting renovated. 

There are people at the Mansion who aren't supposed to be there but this doesn't exactly fit into continuity anyway. Also, I know Jackshite about Stephen Strange, but I am twisting him for my own purposes anyway. 

In Harry Potter time this is in the summer just after the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

It doesn't have an actual title yet so when you review (please?) tell me what you think the best title would be. 

"Excuse me Professor, but there is _someone_ to see you." Bishop's voice crackled over the intercom.

Professor Xavier looked up from his book in surprise. He had not felt anyone approaching the estate. 

"Send them in Bishop."

Almost immediately the door to his private library opened.

"Stephen! I hadn't been expecting you." Charles allowed a smile to show on his otherwise blank face as his old friend appeared. Stephan Strange, also known as the Supreme Sorcerer of Earth, brushed imaginary dust from his plain brown coat and walked stiffly to the chair that faced his telepathic friend. By his wording, it wasn't that hard to tell that the Professor wanted to know why the Sorcerer had come to the house under a telepathic shield.

"Hello Charles. I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a hurry, so you must forgive me for being so abrupt. And I came the way I did because I did not want to draw attention from your students. I come with a message from the Ministry of Magic."

Charles Xavier's eyebrows rose in shock. Even though he himself was of a Muggle family who had often bred wizards for the various schools, the last of which had been fifty-eight years ago, the Ministry was not often mentioned, as there were no more children in the Xavier blood line and no more were likely to be bred. 

"You haven't been around the Magic peoples of this world lately so you probably have never heard about the Lost Witch of the Pyronian?" Charles shook his head and Stephen gave a world-weary sigh. "Let me start at the beginning. Thirteen years ago, nearly fourteen now, Lord Voldemort, you have heard of him? Good. Anyway, nearly fourteen years gone, a young boy defeated Lord Voldemort; an infant named Harry Potter. But just a few weeks before that defeat Voldemort attacked a highly acclaimed witch by the name of Janelle. Jae was married to a Muggle man who came from a family much like your own. It was not unusual for wizards and witches to come from that family, and married to a strong witch, it was no wonder that they had a very strong daughter. Just after she was born, it became obvious that the young girl was a true Pyronian."

"And that would be?"

"A Pyronian is someone who deals in the realms of Fire, Creation, Destruction and Psychic ability as if they already knew all they needed to know about these powers and just had to remember. They often deal with Dragons and the Great Phoenixes best because of these natural abilities. 

"At first it was impossible to tell if she really was Pyronic because at the age of two weeks she had befriended a water nymph and had talked a Grindylow into letting go of her father after he had fallen in to the pond in their back yard. At TWO WEEKS! Even if she wasn't Pyronian they knew she would be a powerful witch. A Sorceress even. Then, during a visit with her mother to Gringotts, one of the guard dragons got into a conversation with the little girl. Completely ignored the mother or the fact that he was talking to a two week old, just asked how she liked the world so far and what she thought of the gold patterns it had just had magically put on to its scales. It became obvious then that she was Pyronic."

During this long speech, he had stood up and begun to pace. Now he stopped dead and sat back down again.

"Well a girl that powerful would obviously become a very great Sorceress, and that she was a Pyronian with Water powers made her even more special. And this special-ness attracted the attention of Voldemort. He attacked her family when she was three months old, his intention had been to take her and raise her to obey him, or so he declared to his followers just before the attack. He hadn't reckoned on the little girl staying over night at her godmother's house to give her parents a night off."

"Voldemort killed the girls parents, but the girl got away?" Charles laced his hands together and rested his chin on them. Though he had no idea where Stephen was going with this, he was intrigued and willing to listen. 

"Yes, and not in anyway the Ministry expected. Apparently after his attack on Janelle and her husband, he went to find the girl at her godmothers', but the dragons had beat him to it. The Godmother had been taken to a witch safe-house and the baby had been taken to the home of a Muggle family who were well versed in the laws of Dragon's though they knew nothing about Witches and Wizards. Ever since, no one had been able to find a trace of the girl until the dragons sent a message to the Ministry that she was now ten years old and ready to go to one of the Schools."

He sat in silence for a full minute and then suddenly burst out.

"The girls foster parents were slaughtered the day before the Post Owl arrived with the invitation. The girl once again disappeared. That was four years ago. The girl became known as the Lost Witch of Pyronian. And she had so far remained lost until one month ago when her presence was felt as she attended a funeral."

Xavier's eyes widened in suspicion. 

"Why couldn't she be found?"

"Because she has Stealth Shields, Charles. A mixture of both mutant and Magic that is so strong no one could have found her."

Xavier closed his eyes and then opened them in shocked recognition.

"Jubilation Lee. She's a Witch."

"Yes. And now that she had been found it is time to reintroduce her to her natural heritage." 

Charles Xavier, Professor X, the most formidable telepath on the planet, lowered his head and closed his eyes in resignation. He was about to lose another student. If she had already lost three years of training, she would spend the next two years or so trying to catch up, leaving no time for her family.

Lifting his head he nodded and opened his mind.

__

~ Jubilation. Please come to my office immediately. ~

One hour later.

Jubilee walked in shock up to her bedroom and, on automatic pilot, began to stuff her clothes and treasured things into a suitcase. 

She was a witch. Her parents were not really her parents. She was a witch. A mad wizard had slaughtered her real parents. She was a witch. She had been rescued by Dragons and sent to live with a foster home.

"I'm a Witch." Tears welled up in her eyes as she realised that she was not really Jubilation Lee. She was Jubilation…what was her last name? 'Guess I'll have ta ask Dr Strange, later. I wonder if my first name is really Jubilation?' She finished packing and looked around her room. There were still posters on the walls and clothes in the cupboard but other then that it was bare. There were no longer little ornaments on her bedside table and her favourite pillowcase with the stars and moon on it had disappeared into the bag. 

Shivering in apprehension, she moved out the door, bag over her shoulder and walked down the stairs. She knew she wouldn't bump into anyone, they were all in the dining room having lunch. The reason she was leaving now was because she would not be seen leaving and her friends would not be allowed to ask awkward questions she was forbidden answer. 

"All set?" Stephen watched as the young Asian trudged slowly down the stairs.

"Yeah, sure." She turned silently to the Professor and lent over to kiss him good by. "I'll send a letter every week."

"We say sending an owl." For a second Jubilee looked rebellious and then her lips quivered into a small smile. 

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll send you an owl. I can just imagine an owl tapping on your window in the middle of the night." The two men smiled in response and then Jubilee was ushered out of the house and into Stephen's waiting car.

"Professor? Where, might I ask, is Jubilee going?" The Professor turned in his hover chair to see Bishop standing by the door holding his third biggest gun. 

'Or is it his second biggest?' 

"Jubilee just found out that she still had family. She has gone with Dr Strange to meet them." He looked at the burly security officer who had once told him Jubilee would be the greatest of the X-men. "Bishop? What do you know of Magic?"

Bishop gave a strangled yelp, and then settled down as it dawned on him.

"The rumours sometimes said that she was Magic, but others said she just had extra mutant powers." He looked after the departing car that was just turning past the gates. "…She really does have magic?"

"Stephen is going to train her. We will not see her for a long time and the most we will be allowed to hear from her is a letter every once in a while. No one must be allowed to know that she is learning magic, Bishop. Not even Logan or Emma." Bishop nodded and headed back in side. He would wait until the last X-men returned, and resume guarding her then. Until that time he had upwards of thirty other X-People to keep alive.

New York City

"Wow. Nice pad, dude."

"Judging from the amount of awe I can feel coming from you, you are impressed?" Stephen put his briefcase down on the lounge room table and watched the girl prowl around his penthouse in the fashion of a Wolverine trained ninja. 

"Totally. I thought only Wings and Frostie had this kind of money. With the 'ception of the Prof. But he doesn't do penthouses. He usually just buys a townhouse and we stay there for however long it's needed." She stopped prowling in front of a mirror. It was one of the few magic mirrors that were spread around the room.

An old silver frame worked in the shapes of roses and thorns, with a dragon rising out of the petals of the rose that sat at the top of the mirror. 

He watched as she lifted a hand to touch the dragon, and suddenly recoiled away from it, walking to the other side of the room and pretending nothing had happened. Stephen watched her rub her hand as if it was burned and returned his sight to the mirror itself. Opening up his Second Sight, he noticed that an aura was hovering around the dragon. Looking at the girl once more he noticed that her own aura was identical to the one around the silver dragon. 

"Interesting."

"What?" Stephen looked up at the girl again as he realised he had said that out loud.

"What did you feel when you tried to touch it?" He indicated the dragon carving. She looked as if she wouldn't answer, then seemed to remember that she was talking to a Sorcerer.

"Heat, cold, numbness and the feeling that now would not be a good time." She glared at him. "Where'd ya get that thing?"

He gave her an amused look as he tried to figure out what her response could have meant.

"Hmm? Oh, it belonged to you great-grandmother. She gifted it to me in her will, it's twin mirror went to your grandmother, and was passed down to your mother and now it belongs to you. At the moment though it is held safe in the main branch of the Wizard bank, Gringotts." He gave her another smile and looked pointedly at the dragon figure. "You may or may not remember befriending a Guard-Dragon there. You were only two weeks old then."

She blinked in disbelief and looked at the mirror one more time before she sat down by the window that over looked Ellis Island. 

"So. What am I going to be learning and when do we start. You did say something about learning three years work in one year right?" 

"Right. Here." He walked stiffly over to the bookshelf and grabbed the beginner book Minister Fudge had said to start her from. 

"_A History of Magic._ Cool. You want me to read this contents to index, right?" She seemed not the least bit disturbed by this.

"I was under the impression you didn't like to read." They gave each other calculating looks. She seemed to come to a decision about something.

"Alright, I'll tell. I keep people thinking I'm dim on purpose. If someone underestimates you it gives you the upper hand in a fight. The only reason I'm telling you is that you want me to learn everything in a short time. It's easier without you having a coronary every time I finish a book or perfect a spell or something." He raised an eyebrow at her. 

"Dude, I'm a straight A student who happens to be one of the best hackers on the planet and alternately lives with a Psychology Professor, a Geneticist and a lot of other brains. You can't survive around the X-men without picking up a lot of boring, yet useful information." He raised his other eyebrow at her. 

She sighed in annoyance. 

"Fine, already! I'm an insomniac, ok? I've read every single book in both X-school libraries. I can survive on two hours of sleep a night. Hank says I'm nearly nocturnal." 

"You probably are nocturnal. Pyronian witches tend to be night-dwellers. They are also the best stargazers and get along very well with the Centaurs." 

"Oh." This revelation seemed to make her happier. "Cool, so I get to make friends with the Horse-people? Major." She leant back against the wall and looked out the window again, then opened the book and started to read. She stopped and looked at him one more time. "Any chance of lunch before I dive head first into the great world of magic?"

"I'll call room service and have them send something up. My room is down the hallway to the left and there are two more to the right that you can choose from." He took his coat off and walked to the phone. "We'll have lunch and then we can go down to one of the Wizard Alleys to get the things you'll need to learn with."

"Cool." She went back to her book and he rang room service, not quite sure how he was going to deal with this strange girl. 

'Damn, unflappable mutants.'


	2. There's supposed ta be a title?

Chapter 2

Living in a hotel that often catered for wizards, it was not in the least bit surprising that the lunch cart appeared in the middle of the room, floated it's plates onto the table and just as simply disappeared. 

"Now _that_ is good room service." Jubilee launched an all out attack on the various plates spread around her. Stephen smiled and started to eat at a slower rate. 

"Only the best with the Catari Catorous witches. They are the best magic cooks." There was no response as they both ate in silence. Once they had finished the food, the dishes disappeared, and Dr Strange picked up is coat. "Come on then, we should get going to Haiarlor Plaza and get the stuff you need." He walked over to the fireplace and waited. Jubilee grabbed her jacket and went to stand next to him.

"Now see this here?" He held a jar of powder to show her. "This is Floo powder. You throw it in the fire, walk into the flames and yell the name of the place you want to go to. You'll have to keep your eyes open and look for the grill signs to see where you are. I'll be waiting by the grill to grab you, just in case you miss, alright?" 

Jubilee nodded and watched as he took a handful of powder and placed the jar back on the mantle. Throwing the powder into the flames that had suddenly sprung up; he walked into them and yelled.

"Haiarlor Plaza!" He suddenly disappeared.

"Huh." Jubilee grabbed the powder jar and repeated the actions.

"Haiarlor Plaza!" There was a pop of greenish smoke and her awareness of Dr Strange's living room disappeared. There was a strange tumbling sensation, but it was instinctive for her to roll with it. She caught a glimpse of him standing next to a sign that said Haiarlor Plaza, Welcome. On instinct she jumped and landed next to him. "Well…that was actually easy, compared to some of the usual ways I get around."

"Come along. We have to go to Gringotts first to get your money out. Wizard money is different to Muggle money."

"Muggle?"

"Human." He led her out of the stone, bare building and walked her into a crowded street that was filled with cauldrons, broomsticks, elves, goblins and a range of other magical things. Looking up to the sky, she could make out the Empire State Building.

"No one can see this from above can they?"

"Hmm? Oh, no they can't, anyone who looks will see a row of warehouse roofs. Anyone trying to walk across them will feel solid roof under their feet. Though it is strange to see a person walking on what seems to be thin air." He chuckled and led her down the plaza to a marble staircase that led up to a gold engraved door guarded by two goblins. The engraving on the door was a poem that warned not to steal.

__

Enter stranger, but take heed,

Of what awaits the sin of Greed.

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors,

A treasure that was never yours.

Thief you have been warned, beware,

Of finding more then treasure there.

The goblins bowed them in and they made their way to one of the free cubicles. 

"Miss Lee would like to get some money from her vault." He pulled a key from his pocket and handed it over before the goblin could ask for it.

"Ah, thank you Dr Strange. This seems to be in order. Calamis, take Dr Strange and Miss Lee to vault six hundred and thirteen." He handed the small golden key back to the Sorcerer, who in turn handed it to Jubilee. 

"Show that key to any Gringotts bank that you know you have money in and you can go get it out immediately, any bank that doesn't have some of you money will lend you what you want and get money transferred from one of your other vaults. You just have to tell them how much you want." They followed the goblin called Calamis into a strange wooden cart sitting on some railway tracks. 

"Cool. Wait, you mean I have money stashed around the place?" Jubilee asked calmly as the cart took off at full speed. This was nothing compared to sitting in a Shi'ar shuttle with Paige while she tried to figure out which control would stop them from doing the loop de loop. 

"Yes, quite a lot actually. I'll give you a map when we get back. But you'd better understand that I am talking about wizard money, not Muggle money. We have three simple coins. A small bronze coin called a Knut. Twenty-nine Knuts equal one silver Sickle, seventeen Sickles equal a gold Galleon."

They stopped suddenly, and Calamis held his hand out for her key. When the vault opened, her eyes widened in shock.

"Cool. I'm a millionaire." 

Having filled the pouch the Doc had given her, she was now ready to go on a magic shopping spree. They stopped at Duliss and Gloons book store first.

"May I help you Sir? Lady?" A tall elfin man came to serve them.

"Yes, let's see," Dr Strange pulled a list out of one of his pockets. "Here we go. She needs _The Standard Book of Spells_ Grades One through to Four." The elfin man blinked in shock.

"Aren't you a little old to need the first two grades?" Renlaw, by his nametag, addressed Jubilee with a sceptical little smile. Strange put a hand on her shoulder to stop the retort she would have given.

"She is a little old, but considering she has been in hiding for the last three years, she hasn't had a chance to learn what she needs." Renlaw now looked suspicious. "May I introduce the Lost Witch of Pyronian, Jubilee." 

The elfins eyes went wide and he let out a shriek that attracted the attention of every person in the store.

"Hey! What's going on over here?" A burly human with ink blotches on his nose and fingers made his way to them. By his nametag he was the Manager.

"Ah, Geordi, good to see you! But I must say I'd like to get finished with young Jubilee's shopping without a great fuss. She is by the way, the Lost Pyronian." Geordi's eyes widened even more then the elfin, and he suddenly became all servitude. 

"Miss Jubilee! Welcome to Duliss and Gloons. You'll need the standard books I take it? Renlaw, go gather up the books on the good Doctors list. May I offer you a drink while you wait? Good Sorcerer? My Lady?" 

"No, no, not necessary, Geordi. We are in a bit of a hurry. If you could have all the appropriate books sorted out and sent to my penthouse at Dishear Hotel?" Strange gestured for Jubilee to get her money out. She nodded and quickly pulled the sack from her belt. 

"How much is it all, Mr Geordi?" 

"Huh, oh. Renlaw, let me have a look at that list, there's a good boy. Let's see…" He quickly added it all up and named the sum. Jubilee's eyes widened in shock at the price but she shrugged and payed for it anyway. She had a thousand more times that in the New York bank branch alone. Five minutes later they were out the door and continuing down the Plaza. 

"Next, we need to get you a broom and a wand. Then we'll stop by Milinda Mugworts Potions and Apocrathy…hmm…they sell good cauldrons at the store next door to hers. That should suffice till we need something else. Since I'm tutoring you we can always just pop back down here if we need something. Turn left here." He directed her into a small dank shop that smelled of old wood and sulphur. 

"Mr Calinatta? Are you in? I've got someone in urgent need of a wand." 

"I'm always in." The soft hissing voice behind them reproved. Jubilee turned around to see a strange skinny man in completely black robes with strange green and silver eyes. He held up a hand holding a tape measure. "Well if I'm going to find you a wand, dear girl, I'll have to measure you. Hold up your wand-hand."

Instinctively Jubilee held her right hand up, fingers splayed and then before he could ask, bent her arm so he could measure it that way as well. Not a word was spoken, as Jubilee stood in the exact way Mr Calinatta wanted every time, always before he could ask. Jubilee didn't question knowing how to stand. As used as she was to telepaths, she figured that one of them was feeding her the instructions on a telepathic level. Soon enough, the measuring was over and the wand maker led her to a shelf at the very back of the room.

"Here, I think I know exactly what wand you need. I could never figure out why I had made this one…" He muttered to himself as he climbed up onto a stool and took an old wooden box from the top shelf. "Here we are deary. Now take the wand into your hand and wave it gently in the air."

He opened the box and showed her the beautiful wand it held. 

"Blackest Ebony, eleven and a half inches long it is. It is the rarest wand around. Made with the only Dragon's Tooth to be used in magical tools, I do believe that the mother of a dead baby Chinese Fireball gave the last Pyronian to walk this earth the Tooth as a gift for saving the rest of her clutch. The Pyronian was an ancestor of yours, as well…The Tooth is bound in dragon heartstring and the crystal on the end is Lystra's Onyx, also known as Dragon Eye." He stopped talking abruptly and smiled at her. She eyed the wand with trepidation and carefully picked it up. Before she even had the chance to wave it, warmth that could have seared her skin off, if she hadn't been so used to her own fireworks, went coursing up her arm and hit her brain like the Fourth of July. 

"Oh. My. Gawd." She swayed slightly and let out a shuddering breath. To the two men who were watching her, her eyes glowed slightly and her hair started to shimmer an iridescent blue. 

She raised the wand, looked around the room and settled her eyes on an old rotten stool. Flicking the wand at it, she muttered a word.

"_Chanagurus._" 

The old stool suddenly became a comfortably silk cushioned, mahogany high-backed chair. The men's mouths dropped open in shock.

"Mr-Mr Calinatta? Should she be able to do that?"

"You're the Supreme Sorcerer of Earth, you tell me."

Two hours later.

After an extensive amount of shopping, a number of near heart attacks due to some surprise magic and a lot of parcels and things later, Dr Strange had finally managed to find his way back to his own grill and collapsed on the couch. Behind him he heard the normal whooshing sound that accompanied magic users through the Floo system. 

"Man, what a great place for shopping! When can we go back?" Jubilee was just a little too perky for his liking.

'I have to remember to keep her away from the Chocolate Frogs.'

"Maybe next week if you get all your books read and spells done at the appropriate time. Why don't you take your new Phoenix Owl to the Owlery. It's on the roof. Just tell the Owl Keeper that you are living in this penthouse, what his name is and who you are, and you should have no problems." 

"Kay, but dude? You should really get some sleep. You look like…ah…never mind. C'mon, Sa Diablo." She opened the cage that held the rare black and red owl and let it hop onto her arm.

"I still can't believe you named him after the devil." Strange muttered as he watched her walk out the door. 

"I thought it fit." She retorted and closed the door behind her.


	3. World Cup Jubilee Style

Duck and Cover!!!!

I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Really, I haven't had time to do much, but look! Three whole chapters! All for you peeps (and especially Lily Cat who seems to be slightly addicted to Harry and Jubes, Breathe, Cat, Breathe!)! And by the way, you may have noticed that the name of the story had changed, Thayli is the winner! What have you won…? Ah…three more chapters?

Warning: Spoilers for Goblet of Fire. 

Two months later. 

"There's an owl for you."

Jubilee lifted her head off her pillow and looked around her room. Nothing out of place…so what just woke her up? The door creaked open and Stephen stuck his head in.

"Did you hear me? I said there's an owl for you."

"You wake me? You must die." Was the muffled response as her head once more hit the pillow.

"It's from Professor Xavier, brat."

Jubilee groaned and stood up. 

"What time is it? I only just got to sleep." Stephen gave her an amused look and checked his watch.

"Ten past eight. That's the problem with you nocturnes. You always get so grumpy when you get woken but you never bother with how we day walkers get woken up when ever you start making a racket in the middle of the night." He handed a folded piece of paper to her and went back to the lounge room, smiling in delight that he had finally gotten to wake her up.

"Yer a cruel, cruel man Stephen!" She yelled after him.

"But you love me anyway!" He yelled back.

"Yeah, but I have no idea why." She muttered as she opened the letter.

__

Dear Jubilee.

It is good to hear from you as always. I'm glad that you like the lessons Stephen is teaching you. It makes sense to me now, why you never really liked the normal lessons Emma and Sean were trying to teach you,

Speaking of your former headmasters. Just last week Artie and Leech pushed Emma into the pool, but she believed that it was really Angelo and Bobby, so the two younger boys got away with it. The entire household watched as she yelled at the your friends and the young ones were standing behind her making funny faces. 

I believe they are trying to keep your memory alive by using all of your old pranks. If you wish to send a letter back with more pranks in it, could you please exclude me from the list of victims? I do not wish to wake up with permanent marker on my head again. J 

Bishop and I will be coming into the city on the weekend if you want to meet us somewhere. Get permission from Stephen first though. 

Everyone here misses you greatly, and Logan still doesn't believe that you would just leave without saying goodbye to him. I am having a great deal of difficulty getting anyone to believe that. Storm may have an inkling about what is happening to you. Did you know her foster mother was a witch? A dirt witch from Africa. Storm may know about the wizard world. I suggest you ask Stephen about that too.

We all miss you. 

Love, Charles.

Jubilee read through the letter twice more. Artie and Leech must have really liked her last letter of pranks, to pull one off on the White Queen herself. 

"Storm's mom is a witch?"

"She is?" Stephen was standing in the door way again.

"Could you please learn to knock! Geez…The Prof thinks Stormy might know about the wizarding world. Anyway, Wolvie still doesn't believe him, and if he finds out I left with you…Are you sure the Ministry of Magic would disapprove? Cause technically they are my family, and they already know there is magic in the world. They aren't really Muggles either. They're mutants and they deal with weird things everyday." Stephen was nodding his head along with her speech.

"The Ministry is still debating the issue. It may take months the way they do things. Anyway, get dressed, we're gonna be late."

"Late?"

"The World Cup? I have Box tickets remember." 

"Oh! The Quidditch Cup. I wanted to see that. I still can't see how you can play a sport with four balls, fifty feet off the ground." She jumped back off her bed and stuck her head in the closet. "Wizard robes or Muggle clothes?"

"Wear a pair of jeans and a shirt and put your robes on over the top. And put a spare set of robes and clothes in a bag and grab some money of both sorts. And don't forget your wand." He disappeared out the door again. 

She sighed. "He is a very strange man, even for a wizard."

She packed the appropriate stuff and went to wait in the lounge room. Stephen came in wearing his own robes and checked hers. She was in daywear of black and silver. A silver belt carved with dragons looped loosely around her waist and her wand sat in a sheath of sorts on one hip. On the other hip was the bewitched dagger that would shield her from most hexes and curses. He was wearing much the same, only in blue and gold. Instead of a dagger, he was carrying a bewitched staff.

Under both their robes, hiking boots and jeans could be seen.

"Hey, looking good. Now, to get to the stadium is a bit tricky, so we're going to teleport in using one of my sorcerer spells. So come in under my cloak if you would?" She moved in under the Cloak of Levitation and wrapped a hand around her mentors' waist. 

"_Unamus Mouviua._" With a flash of black, they were standing in a small room, plain with very little ornamentation. "This way." They stepped through the doorway just in time to miss being trodden on as another pair of wizards appeared behind them. They nodded at each other and all four walked out through the door and into the hallway. The place they were in was covered in gold ceiling to floor. The hallways were packed with people, half dressed in wizard robes, the other half in mismatched Muggle clothing. They nodded greetings to each other as they passed through the hallways. Walking up some stairs, actually a lot of stairs, they found their box. It was right behind some goal posts that stood fifty feet in the air. 

Jubilee immediately went to the edge of the box and watched the wizards and witches pouring into the stadium. At the other end of the oval field was another set of goal posts and another box that had the banner of the Ministry of Magic over it. Jubilee grinned at the Supreme Sorcerer and took her seat next to him, grabbing the Omnioculars he handed her, taking his queues to cover her ears when the Veela started to sing and dance and jumping up to catch the leprechaun gold when it came raining down. And then the Quidditch game began. 

Everyone sitting in the same box as they screamed in pleasure of fright when the Seeker Krum started to dive toward the pitch, Ireland's Seeker Lynch following him.

"A Wronski Feint! Amazing! Haven't seen one that good since I was a lad!" A smallish wizard behind Jubilee yelled in pleasure. He was obviously an Ireland supporter, considering he was dressed head to toe in green, his beard was dyed a brilliant fluoro green. But apparently anyone who could pull off a move like that was approved of by either teams supporters. Everyone was cheering. They watched as Lynch's injuries were fixed, and then the game started again. More goals were scored, penalties given out to either side, and on one occasion the Veela, unhappy that their side had been penalised and the leprechauns were laughing at them, started to dance once more.

Because none of the males in the box had expected it, none of them had managed to cover their ears in time to stop the noise getting through. Though none of the females in the box had managed to cover their own ears, they were not effected in the same way. The men were all standing up screaming that they were the best males around, the women were looking at them all in disgust. Jubilee exchanged looks with a young witch, around her age, that was sitting three rows behind her. They smiled at each other and raised their wands. 

"_Umonus!_" The young witch yelled.

"_Venora!_" Jubilee yelled at the same time, and a light shot out of each of the wands to mix around the other people in the box. Suddenly their area of the Box was quiet as a number of bunny rabbits hopped around. The two young witches looked at each other in shock. They had after all, only been trying to freeze or impediment the strange acting adults.

"Ahh, do yae ken the reverse spell, by any chance?" The girl said with a strong Scottish accent. Jubilee flinched slightly and nodded.

"You'd better pretend like nothing happened otherwise they might realise that we Transfigured them." The other girl nodded and Jubilee raised her wand again. "_Reversi, Obliviate._" The adults were back and they looked slightly shocked but did not have time to accuse the girls as screams of laughter went through the stands. 

"Look at the ref!" Screams of laughter shook the stands as the referee started to flex his muscles and try to impress the Veela. Finally one of the mediwizards ran across the field and kicked the ref sharply in the shin. The referee Mostafa started to shout at the Veela.

"And unless I'm much mistaken," The announcer yelled in good humour. "Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian Team Mascots! Now there's something we haven't seen before…oh, this could turn nasty…"

Two of the Bulgarian team landed on either side of the ref and started to yell at him. The ref blew his whistle twice.

"TWO penalties to Ireland!!! And Volkov and Volchanov had better get back on those brooms…yes…there they go…and Troy takes the Quaffle…"

The game resumed, but it was much nastier then it had been before. One of the Beaters sent a Bludger at an Ireland Chaser and half the stands cried "Foul!", as did the commentator. 

For the fun of it, and because she was surrounded by Irish supporters, Jubilee joined in and started crying foul. The leprechauns and the Veela started to jeer at each other. Suddenly the Veela launched themselves across the field, sprouting wings and showing their scales and their bird beaked heads. Ministry wizards sprang onto the field to separate them but they didn't do much good. 

"Jubes, look up!" Jubilee followed Stephen's advice just in time to see the Chaser Moran score. The explosion from the wands of the wizards drowned the cheers of the Irish supporters out and boos and hissing from the Bulgarians almost overrode the magically enhanced voice of the commentator. Suddenly Krum's nose got broken as a Bludger hit him full in the face. Mostafa's whistle didn't blow though, because he was trying to put his broom out as it caught fire from one of the Veela.

Just as suddenly as Krum's broken nose, Lynch the Irish Seeker went into a dive. Krum immediately followed him and it became apparent that they had both seen the Snitch. Instead of pulling up, as he should have, as even Jubilee knew, Lynch hit the dirt hard and was immediately trampled by the Veela around him. Jubilee tore her eyes back to Krum and shouted.

"Look at Krum! He's got the Snitch!!!" The stands roared as others saw the same thing. The score board was flashing the golden letters. BULAGRIA: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY, IRELAND: ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY. 

"IRELAND WIN! KRUM GETS THE SNITCH - BUT IRELAND WIN! Good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

Everyone was cheering, even the Bulgarian supporters, though they were only doing so to be polite. On the field the Veela were reverting to their normal selves, and the leprechauns were showering their team in gold. 

"And as the Irish team do a lap of honour, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup itself is brought into the Top Box!" Jubilee lifted her Omnioculars toward the box at the other end of the field. As she swept them over the box, the Omnioculars named the people who were sitting there. 

The announcer was Mr Ludo Bagman, there was a man sitting next to Mr Bagman with bright red hair, named Arthur Weasley, next to him was his son Charlie, another one called Bill and next to him was a girl called Hermione Granger, another Weasley named Ronald, and a boy called Harry Potter. In the row behind them were a lot more adults, and one boy the same age as the others named Draco Malfoy. Only one of the seats in the box was empty, but Jubilee realised that it held a small elf creature, labelled as Winky. For some reason, that seat did not seem as empty as it should, even with the little elf sitting there. There was definitely someone else sitting there. 

Someone tapped her shoulder and she turned to see the smallish wizard who had been shouting with pleasure at the Wronski Feint.

"Excuse me miss, but would you by any chance be Miss Jubilation Lee?"

"Yes, but just call me Jubilee, I'm not all that formal. I wasn't brought up to be." The small wizard smiled and nodded gratefully.

"Oh good. I'm not at all formal and I _was_ brought up for it. And that reminds me of my manors it does. The names Colin. Colin Contesty. I'm a wizard on the board of the Department of Muggle Information and Informing. We're the department in the Ministry that decides if a Muggle should be allowed to know what is what in the wizard world." Jubilee's eyes opened in surprise. "We're the ones who are debating on allowing your Muggle friends and foster family to know about us."

"And can I ask how that debate is going? My Muggle Professor, Charles Xavier is having problems with my family. They keep trying to find out where I am and why I haven't called them." She explained quickly. Colin nodded in understanding.

"Personally I believe that your family should be allowed to know as that is the practice with most Muggle families. But since you have so many Muggles in your adopted family…"

"Oh, I got an owl today from Professor Xavier. He asked me to find out about the foster mother of one of my 'aunts'. Ororo Munroe, the Muggle-mutant known as Storm told me once that a Dirt Witch of Africa raised her. And to add to the defence, we get a lot of people using magic, though the magic may not be the same used by the witches and wizards." She looked over to where Stephen was watching her in interest of how she handled the Ministry Wizard. "And they all know Stephen, Dr Strange, I mean. So it wouldn't really surprise them that there are others."

"Hey. Don't bring me into this brat." Stephen ignored her tongue as it stuck out at him. 

Colin ignored it too; he was looking very happy with her as she brought up these points. 

"To true! All to true."

"And I was wondering something, I can't possibly be the only mutant witch around, am I?"

"No, I don't actually think you are. There aren't many at the moment but they are bound to grow in numbers."

"Well there you go then. Your witches and wizards may know magic but they don't know mutation as well as the Professor does. It wouldn't be that hard to get mutant wizards trained in their mutant powers at the same time they learn their magic, if one of the Professor's students come to help." Now the wizard's eyes were open in shock.

"Now That would be excellent…if you will excuse me dear, I have to go and talk to my staff and make sure that is brought up in the debate before some idiot decides to vote on it now." Before he could hear her response, he Disapparated and she was looking at empty air. 

"Ya know, I wish people would warn me before they do that." She said grumpily as she turned back to her mentor. He smiled and held a hand out to her.

"Come on, brat. We should go check out the stores. There's bound to be a heap of merchandising market stalls, sideshow games, a few other things all down at the tent sights. And the Irish supporters will be having a giant party at their camp."

"Cool! What are we watin' for?" Giggling like a couple of teenagers, of which only one of them was, they raced each other down the stairs, and through the hallways. Jubilee cheated, however, by throwing an impediment hex at him, and hurdling over his back. He, deciding that she was cheating so he should too, Disapparated and re-Apparated in front of her. By the time they had made it outside, they left a trail of laughing wizards and witches who all thought their antics were hilarious. By the time they got to the market stalls, they had a trail of Ministry wizards trying to get them to stop. However, with Jubilee's ability to elude the authorities and Strange's ability to Apparate, there was no chance that they could catch the two troublemakers. Finally getting rid of their numerous shadows, the two meet up just outside of a Quidditch supplier's tent.

"So who do you think won?" Strange asked as he laughed and caught his breath at the same time. 

"Us definitely! Those Ministry wizards just can't run!" They both cracked up laughing as they started to look through the tents. Most of the tents looked like they were old ordinary camping tents, but once inside you realised that they were ten times bigger then they looked and very ornamental. By the time they had gotten too tired to shop any more…actually by the time Stephen wouldn't stop complaining about blisters, they were loaded up with so many souvenirs they could hardly walk.

As they were staggering out of the market tents a loud, terrified scream went up. In ingrained instinct, Jubilee dropped all her packages and spun toward the sound, hands raised and a large ball of plasma already formed. Beside her Stephen had his staff raised and his wand in one hand. Right in front of them matched a group of people, wands raised and pointing at a family whom, by their reactions, were obviously Muggles. The wizards were garbed in robes of complete black. Masks covered their faces and they were laughing like maniacs as they started to twirl the adult female upside down.

Ministry wizards were converging on them but some kind of barrier had been raised that stopped their spells getting the masked wizards.

"I take it this isn't normal!" Jubilee shouted over the screams and laughter.

Stephen shook his head. Beside him he could see Jubilee grin in a feral manner that made him wonder if she really was related to Wolverine by blood. 

"No it isn't. Help me catch the Muggles when they fall, alright?" Stephen didn't wait for an answer as he used a banishing spell to send the ball of plasma in Jubilee's hand streaming at the shield. Instead of splattering over the Protection Spell, it split into tiny balls and started to speed around the wizards, making the bystanders jump out of the way. When there was a meter of clear space around the masked men, the balls started to hit the shield in great splatters, two of them hitting the same spot instantaneously with another coming in seconds behind them. The first two created a small weakness in the shield that allowed the third ball to go through. The small plasma balls that finally got through were not enough to do any damage, but it startled the wizards enough that they dropped their shield and Jubilee sent a second large ball of plasma at them that hit them squarely. The Muggles screamed but were instantly caught by no less then twenty wizards and witches, while another thirty tried to catch the masked wizards. 

Before anyone could go more then a few steps toward the masked ones, a large black and green _thing_ lit up the sky above them, and the light took the shape of a giant skull.

"The Dark Mark!!!" Screams went up all around them, and no one noticed that the masked wizards Disapparated out of the area. Strange waisted no time in wondering what to do. He bewitched the packages they had been holding and used an Instantaneous Banishing to send them teleporting back to his apartment and then quickly followed suit after wrapping an arm around his protege's waist. 

"What was that?"

"What?" Stephen was already sitting by his scrying mirror with the All-seeing Eye of Argamotto cupped in his hand. 

"That skull thing." Jubilee, pumped too full of action, started to pace around the room, seeping fireworks as she let out her frustration. 

"That was the Dark Mark. It was Voldemort's sigil. Go have a look in _The Rise and Fall of the Masters of the Dark Arts_. I need to concentrate." Jubilee growled softly but left him to it. By the time she had read the entire book, which wasn't as boring as it had first looked, Stephen had informed her that it had been a group of Death-Eaters.

"No one is quite sure who created that Dark Mark. As it was the thing that scared away the Death-Eaters they don't think it was them, but there is no one else who would _want_ to create on of those things." 

"So no body has any clue? Bummer. What about the Muggle family? They cool?"

"They had a strong Memory Charm put on them. They don't remember a thing." Stephen stretched and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Could you order lunch? I need a shower." He was about to turn toward the bathroom when he remembered something. "Some of the Ministry saw your plasma, and they think you may be right with what you told Mr Contesty. They're adding your defence of the Muggles against the Dark Arts to the debate on telling your Muggles." 

"Oh, good." Jubilee left him to his shower and walked over to the painting of a kitchen. Watching the people in it going around cooking she finally reached up and tickled the painted oven. A green hole suddenly appeared and a piece of parchment and a quill with it. She wrote down her order for lunch and closed the portal again. Waiting for the food to appear, she got back to her books. Though she still had trouble remembering the words and names, the faster she could learn her spells, the better.


	4. Christmas, Owls and Firebreathers

It had been almost three months since the Quidditch Cup and it was almost Christmas time. And in absolute Jubilee style she nearly cleared out Macy's buying presents for her family, at the same time as buying half the wizards' bookstore's rare and valuable books for Stephen and the Professor. 

"So are you going to tell me now?" Stephen lugged in the last parcel from the mall. 

"Tell you what?" Looking at all the packages strewn over the floor, Jubilee quickly pulled out her wand. "_Wingardium Leviosa_." The packages and parcels started to float off to her room.

"Where did you get all that Muggle money? And why didn't I just use that charm to send all your stuff up here in the first place?" With a snort of annoyance he collapsed on his couch.

"Because you wanted to do things the good old fashioned Muggle way. And I have heaps of Muggle money in my banks. When the Prof used to let us go on a shopping spree I would only use half the money he gave me and put the other half in the bank. But I'm so good at getting bargains in the shops that no one noticed I had not spent as much as they thought." There was an underlying _something_ in her voice and he guessed that that wasn't the only reason she had more money then she should. But seeing as this was Jubilee…it wasn't always a good idea to ask questions that could lead to something he really didn't want to know about.

"Right, well why don't you go start wrapping them-"

"Now?!"

"You'll have to send them on a round about trip so that your friends don't know where you are. We can send them to London, then maybe Australia and then they can come back here. I have some friends in both places that won't mind mailing them for us. But it will take a while to get them to the Mansion." 

"Oh, right….Hey, why is it every time you go shopping you come back looking half dead?" She gave him an innocent little smile, baring her teeth slightly.

"You are a brat." He bit out through clenched teeth and stumbled off the couch and into his bedroom to sleep. Jubilee giggled her way into her own bedroom and started to wrap the gifts restraining from using Spellotape instead of Sellotape. Even if she didn't get all the presents she had been bugging her friends for before her witch discovery; it was still going to be a good Christmas. After all, she was going to a New York Witch Christmas Banquet. 

'That reminds me. Were did I put those dress robes?'

Christmas Day

Jubilee yawned sleepily as Diablo pecked affectionately at her ear. 

"Mer' Chis's." She mumbled to the owl and reached a hand to her side dresser. Grabbing a small rapped gift of it she sat up and faced the owl. "Got a present for ya." The owl blinked at her and then hooted something she figured was a thank you, before taking the gift in his beak and using one of his talons to open it. He hooted again in pleasure as the silver necklace with the onyx and ruby gems fell out of the paper. He rubbed his beak along it and then looked up at her and hooted sadly.

__

"So nice, but I have no gift I can give you." Jubilee, who's eyes had closed once more and was leaning back against the head of her bed, shot wide awake as that hoot translated itself in her mind. Her mouth dropped open and with great care she hooted back.

__

"I think you just gave me a gift. I can hear you!" She started to hoot the equivalent of an owls excited laugh. 

Diablo looked at her in surprise and then affectionately nipped her fingers.

__

"Your kind heart, gift giving to one who most think of as animals, opens your psychic powers." He looked back at the necklace held by one of his talons. _"What made you think of this?"_

"Don't you like it?" Jubilee's smile faltered a little. Diablo hooted reassurance.

__

"I like it very much! It is beautiful. But I did not realise you knew about the honour rings." Jubilee blinked in surprise and Diablo blinked back.

"Honour rings? I don't know anything about those, but when I saw a…ah…honour ring like this sitting in one of the shops down at the Plaza I thought instantly of you. So I got some of the gems out of my vault at Gringotts and asked the witch who made them to put protection spells and comfort spells in to the gems. As long as you wear it storms and hexes will never trouble you. Muggle poachers can't shoot you and you'll always be able to find food and water." The owl was giving her a very human like nod and its equivalent of a smile.

__

"That is what the honour rings are all about. If you honour your…you humans call us familiars so that is what I will use. If you honour your familiar for the services they give you and you wish them protection from the hazards of wizards' life, then you give them an honour ring. That is what you have given me. And I thank you."

"And I thank you for the gift you've given me. The ability to understand you."

"Hey. What's all the hooting in here?" Stephen stuck his head past the door and then entered all the way. His black hair was slightly tussled and there was sleep-dust in his eyes but he looked suspiciously fully dressed. 

"Me and Diablo were just exchanging gifts. I gave him an honour ring and he gave me the ability to understand him. Cool huh?" Stephen's jaw was hanging open.

"You shouldn't be able to do that. There hasn't been an Animal Empath for more then half a millennium! The closest anyone ever came was the Animagus."

__

"Pyronian's have the strongest psychic powers." Diablo hooted.

"He said Pyronian's have the strongest psychic powers. And you're the one who is always telling me that I should have instinctive knowledge of the powers of Fire, Water, Creation, Destruction and the Astral. Then when I finally do find that knowledge…" She shook her head, stroked Diablo's feathers and leaned back over to the edge of the bed. Straightening up she handed another gift to Stephen and waited for him to open it. His surprise about her Animal Empathy was nothing to his surprise when half a dozen small Lystra's Onyxes fell in to his palm from the velvet sack. 

"I was going to have them set into Diablo's honour ring when the witch who was making it pointed out that they were far to powerful to be used as protection spells, so I thought you being the Supreme Sorcerer…well I'm sure you get the point right?" Jubilee looked at him in a hopeful way and he had to turn away so that he could wipe a tear out of his eyes.

"These are bound to you. They were from the same crystal as your wands Onyx weren't they? How can you give them to me so easily?"

__

"He is right. They are bound to you; your psychic powers make it even stronger. How can you bare to give them away?"

"Easy. You're my mentor. There is already a bond between us. I just transferred the bond from one of teaching to one of blood. The same as I did for the single Onyx that is sitting in that ring, Diab." She picked up the honour ring and placed it around her owls' black and red feathered neck. She placed it carefully so that the darkest crystal, the Lystra's Onyx was right under his beak, and the ordinary onyxes and rubies were placed at two-inch intervals.

__

"You are wonderful, beloved."

"I know." She hooted smugly and then flipped the covers off her legs, stood up and hugged Stephen. "Merry Christmas!"

"To you too." He grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the hall. "Diablo was supposed to wake you up and bring you out here but I guess he forgot. Anyway, I have a surprise for you." He pulled out a scarf from his pocket and put it over her eyes. "No peeking. Diab, you coming?" He called back down the hallway and Jubilee felt a flutter of wings behind her. In response she tilted her head so that her familiar could land on her shoulder. 

"A surprise huh? Well lets go!" Jubes allowed them to lead her to the living room, where she caught the smell of perpetual gun oil. 

'Wait a second…there's only one person Stephen would invite here that smells like gun oil all the time. And if _he's_ here then…' She listened carefully. Yes there was definitely the almost silent whoosh of a hover-chair. 

"Ya know," she laughed as she spoke toward the sounds of the hover-chair. "if yer gonna try to sneak up on a ninja trained mutant witch you really should make sure she can't hear or smell you. But it's nice of you to come and try to surprise me on Christmas, Prof. And you to Bish." Three sighs could be heard around the room, and Diablo started to laugh his owl laugh.

"Heh, should know better then to try to pull one over on you brat." Stephen pulled the blindfold off and let her see her Muggle mentor and the X-men's bodyguard standing by the fire.

"Indeed. It is good to see you. It has been to long, Jubilation." Jubilee walked over to his chair and waited for Diablo to glide off her shoulder before she hugged him. She kissed his head and then moved to where Bishop was looking slightly uncomfortable in normal clothes. No doubt he had at least one of his smaller plasma guns under that large jacket. Giving him her million-watt smile. 

"Hey Bish, looking good." She tugged on his jacket and then gave him a hug. To her complete surprise he hugged her back. Very slyly, so the other men didn't notice, he lowered his mouth down near her ear.

"Missed you. Lots." He whispered so quietly she hardly heard it. (occ I know) She leaned her mouth against his neck and let him feel her smile. 

"Me too." 

It had after all been nearly three months since they had last seen each other. Just after the Quidditch World Cup. 

"So how did you get here so quickly? I mean it can't be more then seven in the morning. And according to X-men tradition, there should have been a roaring party last night that got all the X-men drunk with the help of Sean's Special Cider. And the party would have wound down at about one this morning, so you wouldn't have been able to come in and get a motel room last night." She gave them both an interrogating look. "Unless of course you stayed up all night and started here at around five…?"

"And gotten rid of some extreme hangovers on the way? No, I think not. Stephen had the Floo system connected to the Mansion for today only. We arrived in the down stairs grill not ten minutes ago." Jubilee shared a grin with the Professor and then dived for the penthouse kitchen.

"Who wants Christmas pancakes?!" With a laugh the three men went and sat down around the tree that was sitting beside the window, presents piled high. Most of them were the presents brought by Xavier from the rest of the X-men for Jubilee. Some were from wizards and witches for both Jubes and Stephen and the rest were the presents that the two had been keeping in reserve for Bishop and Xavier. The magic presents that the rest of the X-men were not allowed to know about.

One hour later there were a number of bits of paper sitting around a rumpled tree, and almost as many presents sitting around their new owners. One particular present wouldn't actually stay still as it bounded around Jubilee's feet. 

"Hey Doc? What do you think possessed the Committee of Regulation and Control of Dangerous Creatures to send me a miniature Chinese Fireball? That don't usually send out Dragon eggs in the post ya know."

"Could be the fact that you are the only one around who can handle a miniature Chinese Fireball? It's kinda cute though. What are you going to call it?" Jubilee grabbed the playful hour old dragon around the waist and lifted it to eye level. She didn't even blink when it breathed a sheet of flame at her; instead she absorbed the flame in the same way she did with her plasma and asked it in its own tongue what its name was.

__

"Mama?"

"Jubilee."

"Mama."

"Oh alright, mama. What's your name?"

"Flickering-igniting-lighting-volcanos."

"Long name. How 'bout we call you Flick for short?" The baby miniature made a small grunting sound that translated into the word _"Flick."_ "Cool. I get a baby dragon and a Firebolt Five Hundred on the same day." She smiled at the watching men. "Ya just gotta love Christmas."

Unfortunately, ten minutes and some singed clothes later, the two visitors said they had to go before the telepathic sleep command Xavier had put on his students wore off.

"Hold on a sec." Jubilee grabbed her wand and concentrated on the men and the presents they were holding; among them a book of protection spells and a wizard's chess set. "_Removi scentari._" 

"What was that?"

"A spell to remove our scent off you. I figured since I was still an X-men, who Sabertooth happens to love hunting, I should learn a spell to stop him tracking me. This works just as well, in case Wolvie gets to close."

Xavier smiled his thanks and gave Jubilee another kiss then entered the fireplace. With a whoosh he was on his way back to the Mansion. Bishop didn't bother with a polite kiss; he just picked her up in a bear hug and held her tight for a few seconds. Then he too went through the fire.

"Well that was a good Christmas morning." Stephen looked at his protege and snickered at the scorch marks and soot on her face. "Um, now would probably be a good time to get changed for the Witches Banquet. And we are going to have to stop off at the Plaza to get some kind of harness and leash made up for Flick. We're taking her with us." He caught her look of surprise. "There is no way I am leaving a baby dragon running around my apartment." He said firmly. 

"Oh all right, but Sa Diablo comes too. They're both mine. They belong with me." Stephen nodded and told her to go have a shower. 

Two hours later

The room was covered in snow. Snow on the tables, on the floor, falling from the roof. And there were at least twelve Christmas trees. Every single one was a different colour. Soft red, evening blue, the always traditional green, silver, gold, bronze, white and a number of others. But what was the most shocking were the clothes of the witches and wizards themselves. Every colour under the rainbow was represented in the hall.

Which was probably the reason why Jubilee and her familiars stood out in their brilliant black and red colourings. Or it could have been the fact that she was the only one to have brought a dragon to the Banquet. Or maybe it was the fact that she was standing next to one of the most powerful Sorcerers on the planet. 

Then again, it could be because she was the guest of honour and had just been announced via magic microphone. The hall erupted into applause and she strode forward following one of the 'page boys', a young wizard wearing the costume of an Arthurian page. He led her and her mentor to the High Table at the other end of the room and pulled a chair out for her. Diab and Flick flapped up to the mantle place behind her and watched in interest as the Host started to talk again. 

"You all know the story of the Lost Pyronian, and now you have all seen her. And as she is the guest of honour we will let her say the opening words." Jubilee stood back up from her chair.

"Thank you for all of this. It really is an honour to sit here with all of you. But as I was not raised to be formal and am still just a teenager, lets do this the easy way." With her mind she reached out and searched for the kitchen, feeling Stephen's familiar touch helping her. "Merry Christmas. Enjoy the Yuletide, and have a wonderful time. Now dig in!" The golden plates and crystal goblets were suddenly full. There was another loud splattering of applause and then everyone started to eat and talk, and generally have a good time. However, if it hadn't been for the fact that she was the first one to pull a wizard's cracker, Jubilee would have jumped up in alert observation, hands full of plasma and asked who was shooting at them. As it was, she had a wonderful time playing with the miniature Quidditch set that played by itself. And she switched her Napoleon hat for her neighbours Red and Black pointed witches hat. 

"Huh. Luck or coincidence, you think?" 

"Both maybe. So you run the Coven of Malinasta? I read about them." Jubilee's neighbour was an old witch dressed completely in Christmas red, complete with tinsel. Apparently her name was Mesaana Keritoa Messiddi Alatie. But she had told Jubilee to just call her Kerry. 

"Well, run is not quite the word I'd use. Damage control maybe. But yes, I do. In fact your great aunt was a member, so I guess that makes you a member by blood."

"And me being new to the whole witch thing would have to ask. What does that mean for me and what do I have to do?" She raised her crystal goblet to her mouth and sighed with pleasure. There wasn't anything that could beat Butterbeer.

"Oh nothing really. But we stay away from the Dark Arts, oppose You-Know-Who and help each other if we get into trouble…really we just support each other." Jubilee nodded and reached a hand behind her to give Flick a large chunk of beef. The dragon gobbled it down in a second and whined a little. With out really thinking about it, Jubilee whined back and conjured up a bowl of water and another bowl of meat. Diab hooted at her and she hooted back, handing him some of her fish. "So, you can talk to them?"

Jubilee, having forgotten that she had an audience started around to see Kerry's face turned into an amused grin.

"Ah…yeah, we found out this morning that I could. Diab told me that it was because I was being kind and gave him a gift. Stephen said that it was impossible except maybe for Animagus, but I guess I proved him wrong."

"Unless you're an Animagus yourself."

"Oh…I hadn't thought of that…" Jubilee pondered for a minute, but was distracted when the band started to play and she was asked to dance by a wizard two years older then her. For the rest of the afternoon she danced, ate, watched the ghost actors, ate, listened to the various witch bands, ate, wondered around the market stalls and side show alley and ate some more. She groaned slightly as she got up for the closing speech.

"Ladies, lords, all of you. This has been one of the best Christmas parties that I have ever been to. But since all things have to come to an end, I thought we could take this Banquet out with a bang!" That said, Jubilee raised her hands and released her best fireworks above the tables. The fizzers, twirlers, bangs, Sky Flowers and Flying Dragons soared over their heads to a round of applause so loud that she was worried the Muggles might hear it. 

But it was fun.


	5. Goin' Home! Hide the Sugar!

Okay, sometime soon, in the next chapter I think, Harry and the gang are finally going to drop in on the X-men, if not the other way around. So you'd all better tell me which pairings you'd like most. Harry/Jubes, Ron/Jubes, Harry/Ginny, Hermione/Ron, Fred or George/Jubes (think of the possible practical jokes…hehehehe). Or should Jubes go with one of the Gen X males, or maybe Bobby Drake…not Remy or Logan though, cause Rem is firmly stuck with Rogue and Logan is her sire/father.

Chapter 4

A couple of months later,

"Hey! Did ya read this? No wonder the Ministry hasn't gotten back to me yet, they're all too worried about this." Jubilee stuffed a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ in front of his face. Stephen scowled at her and grabbed the fluttering newspaper. 

"'Second Test of Triwizard Tournaments: Facing the Merpeople. During the second test world known wizard, Harry Potter, showed his courage and compassion during the underwater trial of the merpeople. The second test was to retrieve the person the champions would miss most from the clutches of the merpeople. At the same time, having to face the creatures of the lake, among them Grindylow, giant squid and the merpeople themselves.'" 

"Sounds like fun." 

"Shush. 'Mr Potter was the last champion to enter the water, yet, after warding off an attack from a Grindylow, managed to be the first to find the place were the captives were being held. However after he had freed his own hostage and best friend, Ronald Weasly, he remained where he was, waiting for the other champions. It was thought that he stayed because two of his fellow Hogwarts students were among the remaining hostages. When Champion Fleur Delacour failed to arrive at the hostage site, having been attacked by a gang of Grindylow, Potter released and rescued her hostage in addition to his own. For this show of bravery and compassion he was rewarded with the second highest score. 

"The third and last challenge will take place during the month of June. It is highly anticipated.'"

"Hey, are those the kids who were in the Top Box at the Quidditch Cup?"

"Hmm? Yes. There should be an account of the boy, Harry Potter in _Wizards and Witches of Modern Magical History_. Go read it for today's lesson." Stephen told her in his command voice. 

"Grumpy much?" She muttered but walked off the balcony and into her bedroom where Flick was dozing on the bed and Diablo was doing the same from his perch by her window. She stopped for a second to regard the two of them. 

Diablo having been full-grown since she had first bought him was the same as always, with the exception of the silver Phoenix feather that was growing from his tail. Stephen had told her that was normal for a Phoenix owl and that they would do that every year on schedule. The problem was that while the feather was growing Diablo slept more then he would stay awake and he couldn't fly messages in between. 

Flick on the other hand, or talon, had been growing continuously. Within the last two months she had grown three times the size of a large dog and was still considered to be just a baby. And they had already had to expand the hallways and doors with magic so that she wouldn't get stuck. Since this meant the penthouse would have been smaller in comparison to the doors and halls, Jubilee got the managers consent to buy the penthouse on the other side of the motel and rearrange the entire top floor into one large house. Now all the rooms were three times larger then before, all the bedrooms had a king-size bed and the bathroom had a back yard sized pool as a tub. Using both magic and technology it could be filled up in less than two minutes and with a number of different perfumes and soaps. And if she had figured it out right, by the time Flick was full grown it would just be big enough for the dragon, the Pyronian and the sorcerer at the same time. Just. And now Jubilee was very glad that the Ministry had sent her a miniature. 

Grabbing said book off her shelf, she climbed onto the bed and slumped against the warm side of the dragon, not even noticing the heat that would have burnt a normal person. It had been another thing she had to do to the apartment when she joined the two penthouses. Create a heat spell that would make sure the material things that could be set fire to do not get set fire to. 

One hour later, both dragon and owl were awake, Jubilee had found out all there was to read about Harry Potter; including new articles about his friends and his time at Hogwarts, and Stephen had stormed out of the penthouse by Muggle means saying that she would have to worry about dinner herself. 

"What do you think is wrong with him?" The two familiars didn't answer, they were to busy digging into their food. Jubilee shrugged and joined them.

They had just finished when a barn owl tapped on the window. Jubilee opened it up and hooted a welcome. 

__

"Come in. Food and water, if you need it."

"Thank you, but I haven't come far. From the Ministry with an urgent letter for you. I had best get back, too many letters, not enough owls."

He hooted a good bye and took off again. Jubilee opened the letter. 

__

Dear Miss Lee,

After much discussion and debate, the Ministry department of Muggle Information and Informing had decided that your Muggle family will be allowed to know of the wizarding world. This information may only extend to those Muggles with which you have constant contact with, and those Muggle Professor Charles Xavier thinks should know. 

The Floo system shall be connected to one of the fireplaces in the Mansion for Higher Learning. We have already sent a letter to Professor Xavier and asked that he allow us to begin designing a small house at the bottom of the forest that spans the Mansion Estate. Dr Strange and yourself will be moving in there for the remainder of your school term and then during the summer you may return to the mansion for continued training in you mutant powers. During this time, you shall still continue lessons with Dr Strange.

During school term you will remain at the forest house for the week and you may visit the mansion on the weekends. Your friends are allowed to go down and visit you whenever you like and will occasionally be allowed to help with some spells that need subjects. 

You will move in to your newly built house in three days. 

Magda Cruiski

Department of Muggle Information and Informing

Ministry of Magic

P.S. The house will be made big enough for your dragon and is situated beside the lower lake of the estate.

"YES!!!" Jumped up and started to do a funny dance around the living room. Dragon and owl looked at her in worry. "We're goin' home!" Dragon and owl exchanged glances, then flapped in to the kitchen to hide the sugar. 

Xavier's the next morning.

As usual, the breakfast table was crowded with the students of Xavier's school for Higher Learning. The student's of its sister school for Gifted Youngsters were also there, owing to a maniac mutant destroying half of Massachusetts School. A fact of which Emma Frost was still raging over having just had the school renovated last summer. Xavier judged that now would be a good time to tell everyone. 

__

~ Can I have your attention please? ~ The table quieted and everyone turned to look at the Professor. 

"Thank you. Now what I am about to say may come as a bit of a shock, but I would ask you all to please refrain from interrupting me until I am finished." They all nodded. "Well, how shall I put this…You have all had an experience with some form of magic over the years, have you not?" More nods. "Well the truth is, that there is a lot more magic in this world then you might have known. With a population much like that of mutants, there are a species of human known as wizards and witches." There was a small snort of laughter from around the table. 

"You already know there are such creatures, I realise that. What you do not know is that for the last twenty thousand years, perhaps more, the wizards and witches have been living separately from humans, and yet living right in amongst them. Like mutants they hide their powers from humans, but unlike most mutants, they go to special schools all over the world to learn how to control those powers.

"There is an organisation among them known as the Ministry of Magic, that controls all uses of magic and information about it."

"Charles, if I may?" Hank was holding up a hand as if he were in school. Xavier nodded permission. "Why are you telling us this? I mean it is interesting to know that magic-users have been around us all this time without our knowing, but we have gone this long in our ignorance and not suffered for it."

"Actually we have suffered for it, but I will get to that later. You ask why I tell you this, so I will try to explain. But first I must tell you a little bit about what are called Muggles, Mudbloods, Purebloods and Squibs." There was another snort of laughter. "First of all, Muggles are the name wizards know humans as. We here are Mutant-Muggles. Purebloods are wizards who come from a line comprised only of magic-users. Mudbloods are wizards or witches who are born to ordinary humans, and like some mutants, abruptly find out that they are wizards or witches. Squibs are the opposite of Mudbloods. They come from a wizarding family but are not wizards themselves. Both words; Squib and Mudblood are derogatory."

During this speech the normally calm Storm had been fidgeting.

"What was your foster mother?" Storm looked up in shock and then grinned ruefully when she remembered she was surrounded by telepaths. 

"Ainet was a quarter blood. Her grandmother was a witch and her grandfather and father were human."

"Yes that is another mix. Halfbloods. But that is fairly self-explanatory. But now you all have some understanding of magic heritage. I myself belong to a family that had a record for producing Mudbloods. But now that I have that out of the way, here is the reason I have told you all of this.

"Fourteen years ago there was a wizard called Voldemort. And he was about as evil as they can get. The wizarding world refers to him as You-Know-Who or He-Who-Can-Not-Be-Named. They are truly that afraid of him. Well just before his defeat at the hands of a child named Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort tried to do the unthinkable. He tried to kidnap another child, a young witch, who was also a Pyronian. Pyronian's are very rare, very powerful magic-users who have the ability to control dragons and phoenixes, have the power of Destruction, Creation, Fire and the Astral. And this particular Pyronian was already showing the ability to control the powers of Water as well. Even though she was only three months old at the time.

"Voldemort believed that if he could capture the child and raise it himself those powers would be used for his own purposes."

"And that's a really bad thing right?"

"Yes Bobby. But as it happened, the parents of the child had decided they needed a bit of a holiday and the young girl was staying overnight at her babysitters. Voldemort attacked the parents first and when he found the girl was not there he killed them. By the time he got to the home of the witch looking after the girl, a group of Dragons, hearing about the murders of the Pyronians parents, managed to get both the babysitter and the baby herself away from the house and to a safe place."

"So what happened? Where'd the baby go?" Jean asked with a sad look on her face.

"The witch was taken to a safe house, and told everyone that the dragons had told her they were taking the baby to a family that knew nothing about the wizarding world, but because of their heritage knew all about dragons. The girl grew up there, believing that they were her real parents. Then when she was ten years old, the Ministry of Magic found out that the girl was living there and she was of an age to begin her witch training. When they finally made it to the home of the girl, they found the parents on the kitchen floor, slaughtered and the girl had once more disappeared. It turns out that the girl was not only a powerful witch, she was also a mutant with very strong psychic shields. The Ministry had no way to find her until last year when she attended the funeral of her fallen teammate and because of her sorrow her shields slipped. Now does that tell you who I am talking about?" All the telepaths around the table burst out at the same time.

"Jubilee!"

The table burst out in speculation and it took Logan slamming his claws into the table to silence everyone. 

"Chuck, are you tellin' us that Jubes is this witch? This Pyronian?"

"Basically. Dr Strange arrived last year to tell me the same story I just told you, and Jubilee has been living with him ever since learning about her powers. But-" He held up a hand to stop the next outburst. "But, the Ministry of Magic had to forbid her to tell her family, us, about her magic because there are just so many of us. For the past year Jubilee has had the Ministry debating on allowing us to be told. Last night the Ministry finally decided. In two days Jubilee will be coming to live in a house that some of the Ministry wizards will be building down at the bottom of the forest." He nodded in the right direction. "She and Stephen will be living down there until Jubilee's school term is finished, and then she may spend the rest of the summer up here. Just as if she were at an actual wizard school. She may come to visit us on weekends and if Stephen gives his permission any of you may visit her at anytime." 

There was more talk and a number of people were bombarding Storm with questions about her foster mother. The Gen Xer's were all gossiping about what kind of powers their former team mate would have now and there were a number of other discussions going on. Bishop stood up and cleared his throat. 

"I believe you have forgotten something, Professor. You had best warn them all about her pet dragon and owl." Sitting back down the normally stone-faced man looked quite smug as half the table shouted, 

"Dragon!" and the other half shouted,

"Owl!"

Xavier rubbed his head in pain. Explaining wizards and witches was a lot easier then explaining a pet dragon or the owl post. 

That evening nearly everyone had at one time or another, gone down to watch the wizards building the house. It was a twenty-minute trek down there (or a few minutes flying, if you could) but it was worth the effort to see the bricks go flying through the air, mortar magically appear, timber walk by itself to where it was needed. In one day the entire house was built. The wizards had told the mutants that they would be starting in on some basic furnishings, putting in some magical plumbing, building a shed for the dragon to live in and a few other things in the morning. The females had stood around for an hour after that to discuss what type of furniture should go into the house and the witches who would be doing that tomorrow had asked them to come down and give their opinions on it all.

The next day the mansion had become somewhat of a circus. Everyone was so eager to get the place ready to welcome Jubilee back, help the wizards finish the house and watch as one of them connected the Floo system to both the house fireplace as well as the Mansion's east wing library.

Most of the time though they were bugging the Professor or Bishop about when Jubilee would arrive.

"Tell me again why you want to arrive at three in the morning?" Jubilee yawned against her Firebolt Five Hundred and nearly went into a swan dive. Straightening up again she glared at her laughing mentor and speed up a little. 

"I thought you liked the night? Besides we can't let anyone see Flick can we?" Stephen laughed again as her Firebolt did a midair somersault and nearly threw her off. 

"I hate you." Jubilee growled back and then squealed as they flew low over a clump of trees and reached the boundary walls of Xavier's Estate. Flying low over the wall Jubilee shot a look at one particular area and stopped dead. A few seconds later the retinal scan finished and she was given permission to enter the grounds. Gesturing for human, dragon and owl to follow her, she took off for Lake Carnish. That was were the wizards had said they would be building the house. 

As they came up over the trees and across the lake Jubilee felt a light mental brush coming from the direction of the Mansion. 

__

~ Jono? ~

~ Monet. Welcome back. ~ Jubilee blinked in surprise at the warm mental tone. Usually Monet's voice was cold and, for lack of better words, imperial.

__

~ Thanks…Is anyone else up still? I was kinda hopin' for a quiet entrance. ~

~ Wolverine and myself. I believe he is a little too excited to sleep. And I am on Security tonight. May we come down to greet you at the house? I have the feeling he will gut me if I knew you were here and I didn't fly him down to you directly. ~ There was warm amusement in her 'voice'. 

__

~ Sure, come on down. But please don't go waking anyone else up. I don't want a giant house warming either. And don't mind the Dragon. She won't hurt you. ~

She got an affirmative just as she landed by the new house. It was a mix between the normal suburban house and a woodlands cabin. Three stories tall, with a large flat/shed at the back that was obviously for Flick, an open room on the top story that was most likely the owlery for visiting owls, and part of the bottom story extended over the lake. The inside room must have had a spell on it to stop water flowing through the house if the lake overflowed. All in all it was beautiful.

"They do good work don't they?" Strange was eyeing the house with a Sorcerer's wisdom, noting where spells had been placed and watching as some garden gnomes and flower pixies started to flit around in the garden. Well the pixies flittered, the gnomes sort of grunted and shuffled. 

"Yep. Hey you think the inside will be bigger then the outside?"

"Of course. That's how all wizard houses work. This house alone must have at least six or seven bedrooms." He gestured for her to head into the house and they both levitated their bags and suitcases up the stairs. Flick decided she wanted to check out the Dragon Den as she had already named it and Diablo flew up to look around the Owlery. Jubilee gave them both warnings that two of her friends were coming down from the Mansion and they weren't to make any trouble with them. 

"So who's coming?"

"Huh? Uh, Wolvie and M. They should be here any minute." Jubilee left the door open in welcome and then went up to check out which bedroom was going to be hers. As at the apartment, all the bedrooms and beds were king size and the bath could have held at least ten people comfortably. And Stephen had been right. There were seven bedrooms, each with a giant sized balcony perfect for a landing Quidditch team or a dragon. Jubilee chose the room that was right over the lake. If she remembered this area clearly, this end of the lake was deep enough for her to jump off the balcony and into the water without any harm. 

"Cool."

"I hope that means ya like it, Darlin'." Jubilee whirled around to see Logan leaning against the doorframe and Monet grinning at her from behind him. With an excited shriek she leapt at them in a bear hug and then yelled a little louder when Logan tried to break her ribs. 

"Wolverine. Let her breath. Besides I want a hug." Monet pouted a little then pulled her out of Logan's arms and into her own. "Hey little sister."

"Hey big sister." And that was what it felt like. M and Jubilee had always fought with each other, but in truth it was only sibling rivalry. 

"So kid. Are you going to tell us all about your time with Strange? I wanna hear everything that's happened." Jubilee smiled at her surrogate sire. 

"Now That could take all night. Think you two can keep up with a semi-nocturnal-witch-mutant-teenager?"

"I do believe we can try." Monet shot back and they grinned at each other. There was a hooting noise and a tap at the balcony window and Jubilee opened it to let her owl in.

"Guys," Diablo glided up to her arm. "Meet, Sa Diablo. My Phoenix Owl. Diab, these are my elder sibling, Monet and my sire Logan." The two of them looked slightly surprised by the titles but they both said hello as the Professor had told them to. Then they all went down to the living room and joined Stephen in a late night hot chocolate, or in Wolverine's case, a late night beer.

After three hours, eight hot chocolates, twelve beers and two more people to join them; Gambit and Bishop had noticed that no one was in the Security Room, Jubilee had finally wound down to a close in her story. 

"Anyway, when Stephen found out that the Ministry were all caught up in the Triwizard contest and the search for the missing Ministry witch, he marched down to the New York office and told the Department of Muggle Informers to get off their lazy butts and decide already. He wasn't even in there for half an hour when they sent an owl to me telling that they had sent a wizard to see the Prof and they had organised for the house to be built. And here we are." Jubilee looked out the glass door to see it was starting to get light. A big head suddenly came into view. "Flick, you been sleeping in your new place? Like it?"

__

"Pretty." The dragon purred and pushed open the door with a little difficulty. _"Swim? Warm water."_ She gestured with one talon toward the lake and bobbed her red and black head. Jubilee looked around at the people who hadn't yet met the baby dragon. They were all looking at it in shock, though Logan had approval in his eyes as well. Apparently the sharp talons, giant wings and glittering teeth were well approved by from the beast in him. Bishop was looking at her for a translation. 

"Flick wants to swim. Hey Wolvie, there're still nice big fish in the lake right?"

"Yep. Nice big ones. Enough for your friend there to have a nice breakfast, I reckon."

"Cool. Anyone want to come and join us? I need to give Flick a wash anyway and it's easier with help." Monet looked at the dragon in interest and nodded.

"I'll come, but I'll need to go get a bathing suit." Jubilee smirked and grabbed her wand from where it was still sitting in the sheath at her waist. Standing in front of the mirror she pointed at her reflection.

"_Corugus._" Just like that she was standing in her black and silver two piece and some cut offs. Turning to Monet she did the same thing, and her friend was suddenly standing there in her normal moss green swim suit. Another wave of her wand and they had the essentials for a swim and dragon cleaning. Including two very large fluffy towels. "Advantages of being a witch. Come on." The sun had come up full and the two girls and the dragon raced over to the lake edge. 

"Hey! Catch us breakfast while your down there. And watch out for the Grindylow. Now that this lake is inhabited by a witch they're bound to move in." That brought Jubilee up short and she turned to stare at her mentor. 

"We have Grindylow in the lake." She said shortly. 

"If not now we will have soon. And we are bound to find some giant squid and Kappas in there as well once we've been here for a while." He gave her an apprising look and then grinned. "If word gets around about how good you are with water dwellers, you might even get a clan of Merpeople asking to move in."

Jubilee gave him a blank look before she growled and spun on her heel to go join Monet and Flick.

"You are seriously annoying!" She yelled over her shoulder before she shucked her cut offs and dived into the water. 

The men all turned to face the laughing sorcerer. 

"What the hell is a Grindylow?" Logan demanded as he turned his stare back to his 'daughter'. She was splashing around with Monet while Flick was diving around in the water searching for fish. 

"A Grindylow is a dangerous water demon that likes to grab people by the ankles and pull them under. They are actually fairly easy to stop if you can break their grip. And there is a trick to that. But I suggest that unless you suddenly develop super strength or the ability to breathe under water then you shouldn't go swimming in this lake without a witch or wizard with you. Though you may be able to cut their hands off…but that could get messy."

"Ah, that may actually be useful if any of our enemies come down this way. Push them in the lake and we wouldn't have to worry about them any more." The three other men turned to stare at Bishop. "Please remember that I come form a kill or be killed world. Thinking up new ways to kill your enemies was the favourite hobby of most of the soldiers around my service base." He turned his own stare to Jubilee, who was taking a rather large fish from her dragon. "I do believe Jubilee, in her future form, came up with that particular game." He blinked and then held a hand up to catch the fish Jubilee had Banished Charmed his way. He held it up for inspection. "Breakfast?"

"I do believe it is." Stephen made a gesture with his hand and the fish went flying into the kitchen. The other males snorted at him, and Gambit got up to go cook it himself. The rest of them stayed there to watch the girls clean the dragon, who was in the middle of eating two very large fish. A little while later both girls were trudging up to the house wrapped in big fluffy towels and Remy was dishing out breakfast. By the time they had finished, it was seven thirty and most of the people up at the mansion would have been awake by now. That was proven when Storm, Rogue, Jean and Cannonball flew down carrying Scott, Paige and the Professor. Jubilee looked at them all in an apprising manner, then submitted to having her ribs crushed as all the females, Rogue in the lead, descended on her in a giant group hug.


End file.
